A Mumbai developer is about to start construction on what he claims will be the world’s tallest residential tower. If you are super rich, you can see what such lofty living feels like.

Mumbai builder Lodha Developers Ltd. said it will finish the over 117-storey stack of private homes called “World One” in 2014.

At more than 450 meters, it will be taller than the Empire State Building in New York or the Willis Tower, known until quite recently as the Sears Tower, in Chicago. It is also scheduled to beat the record for tallest residential tower which is currently held by the 323-meter residential complex in Australia called “Q1.”

World One will cost around $450 million to build and its rooms are already being sold at prices of $1.5 million all the way up to more than $12 million, according to the developer.

The building will get one of the highest environmental ratings in the world by recycling its water, harvesting rain water and using solar power, the developer said.

“This will help put Mumbai at the forefront of the architectural revolution that is happening across the world,” said Abhisheck Lodha, managing director of Lodha Developers.

He said this proud protrusion on the Mumbai skyline will point to how, “India is asserting itself on the global stage.”

This tallest residence, built on the grounds of a failed textile company, will not suffer the fate of many of the world’s tallest buildings which have often heralded the end of property booms, Mr. Lodha said. There is more than enough economic growth and demand for quality housing in Mumbai to find enough rich folks to fill the tower, he said.

India’s first sight of what may become a symbol of the city’s vibrancy didn’t go so smoothly, though. As Mr. Lodha and the building’s designers stood amid loud music, flashing spotlights and a bunch of stage smoke, the rotating platform that was supposed to turn and reveal the projected profile of the World One refused to turn all the way around.

After five minutes of uncomfortable smiling on stage it was fixed to show the architects’ rendition of what the oval-shaped tower will look like.

To design the massive building, Lodha brought in two U.S. firms: Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, which helped design the pyramid in the Louvre in Paris, and Leslie E. Robertson Associates, which was behind the old World Trade Center in New York and other famous buildings including the Bank of China in Hong Kong.

The design of the skyscraper takes into account Indian family values, said Jay Berman, partner at Pei Cobb Freed & Partners. Indians want access to outside air so each apartment has a balcony.

MUMBAI- The city’s skyline is all set to play host to the world’s tallest residential building with Lodha Developers announcing the construction of a 117-storey tower in Lower Parel on Tuesday. Once ready in 2014, the 450-mt (1450 ft) highrise will dwarf the existing tallest residential building Q1, which is 323 mt (1058 ft) high, in Gold Coast, Australia. The 80-storey Q1 was built in 2005.

The half-a-kilometre tall structure will come up on the defunct 17-acre Shrinivas Mill plot in Lower Parel. Titled World One, the building will be part of the Rs 2000-crore Lodha Place project which comprises two other residential towers— a mall and a commercial building.

The skyscraper will have a total of 300 apartments and will have three and four bedroom flats, private villas with individual pools as well as duplexes measuring 10,000 sq ft. The flats come with exorbitant price tags of Rs 7.5 crore to Rs 50 crore.

Abhisheck Lodha, managing director of Lodha Group, said the project would cater to the Mumbaiites’ aspirations to a global lifestyle. Drawing a parallel with the Empire State Building as a symbol of America’s rise in the 1930s and more recently the Petronas Twin Towers and Shanghai World Financial Center representing the rise of Asia, the developer said World One would emerge as a landmark for Mumbai.

“Every global city is made memorable by its architectural landmarks. Be it the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the Opera House in Sydney or the Empire State Building in New York, these vibrant forms reflect the passion and culture of the city they are located in. We are confident that World One will come to represent India’s quest for excellence in the economic and cultural arenas,” said Lodha.

The project is being designed by the New York-based architects Pei Cobb Freed and Partners, who have earlier worked on projects like the Grand Louvre Expansion and Modernization (Paris), the Bank of China Tower (Hong Kong) and the John Hancock Tower (Boston).

This tower will be made or broken on the materials used for the facade. If it's painted concrete, it will look pretty bad. If they use some sort of metal panels, it could end up looking really great.

__________________"Then each time Fleetwood would be not so much overcome by remorse as bedazzled at having been shown the secret backlands of wealth, and how sooner or later it depended on some act of murder, seldom limited to once."

well, its not a prophecy... do you seriously think mumbai or dubai are going to have half the occupation for any of the towers they build? I mean, the only way they went up in the first place were because of cheap loans, mass debt, and notoriety. The developers aren't doing this to fulfill economic needs. If they were doing that, there would be highrises and shops all up and down the city. But no, there are still slums and piles of shit everywhere. They think adding all these supertalls are going to increase the quality and standard of living overnight. The worst though, is probably the supertall hotels the developers want. They must be absolutely crazy if they ever think these projects make any sound financial sense whatsoever. Theres a reason why dubai is in a recession right now, mainly because none of the towers are even remotely paying themselves off. And I can guarantee you as long as mumbai has this mindset, the city is never going to prosper. It might look nice from a distance, where you can't recognize how empty all the skyscrapers are and all the slums, but that's about it. Your welcome for the guarantee.